This book was a beautiful representation of what it is like to be deaf and going through times in your life where friend groups change. It was written stunningly and it remains in my mind even after finishing.

This was a touching own-voices story about a 12-year-old girl named Rayne who was experiencing sudden hearing loss. The character was well written and it was easy to feel the depth of her emotions and the inner turmoil that she was facing. The conflicts with her parents were realistic for a child of that age - especially considering the lack of control Rayne had over her situation. I absolutely loved Jenika and Troy and think everyone should have friends as amazing as they were!

The author did a nice job of making the reader feel what hearing loss would be like by replacing words with asterisks to show what Rayne was processing. It not only helped the reader experience speech as Rayne would, but also made the reader understand how much concentration was required in order to comprehend what was being said. This novel would make a great addition to an upper elementary or middle school classroom to help children better understand differences.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC of #HearMe by #KerryO’MalleyCerra in exchange for honest feedback.
-5 stars

Actual rating: 4.5

Hear Me was such a powerful story. Rayne is losing her hearing faster than expected and her parents are insisting on cochlear implants. But Rayne is terrified of the surgery and possible negative outcomes. She spends most of the book fighting with them and searching for ways to convince them to listen to her.

This book did such a fantastic job of showing what hearing loss looks like. Rayne is a great protagonist, she's strong and sure of herself while dealing with so much. Reading this as an adult, I pictured her being my daughter and thought about how I would handle parenting her in this situation. I think a middle-grade audience would gain a lot of insight into what it is like to live with hearing loss.

The inclusion of asterisks to portray the words Rayne cannot hear was brilliant. I admit, it threw me off at first and I kept trying to fill in the blanks. I ended up switching to the audio about halfway through the book, and I think that was such a great experience. Hearing what Rayne hears was really powerful storytelling.

I thought this was an inspiring and heartwarming story. My only negative was that I didn't think the author needed to include a romance plot for a 12-year-old. It just felt weird and out of place. Even so, I still highly recommend picking this up!

I thought that this book was really relatable and thought that the author did a good job in bringing her experience into this book. The representation is great and touching to all who read it.

Well it only took me literally forever but I finally finished this book. I started reading an ebook of this almost a year ago and for whatever reason I struggled to finish it and so I finally got the audiobook and let me tell you that the audiobook is so magnificently done.

This is a middle grade book that follows a girl who is losing her hearing and she is struggling to admit how bad her hearing is getting while also trying to convince her parents that she doesn't want or need cochlear implants. The audiobook does such a great job of giving listeners the same experience that the main character would get. As in there are deliberate pieces of information that are missing from sentences and you really get to understand how she is feeling and experiencing the world.

This is an own voices Deaf book and should be a staple in any middle grade or young adult library. I would recommend for adults to pick this one up too.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Books for this ARC. #netgalley #hearme

As someone who is particularly deaf, I can relate to this character on some level. Growing up a struggle hearing people talk. I had to take speech therapy along with sign language for 4 years because I wasn't talking because I couldn't hear very well at all. I appreciate when they write books about people who are deaf or hard of hearing. I don't think it's a subject that gets spoken about enough. This author did a great job of trying to convey the actual experience of someone who is deaf. The experience of how they are interpreting of what they can or can't hear. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars for me.

i really enjoyed reading this. it featured a unique formatting where when the MC experienced hearing issues the reader read how she heard. i think this book is important because it features a MC with hearing loss.

HEAR ME by Kerry O'Malley Cerra is a middle-grade novel with a perspective on deafness we rarely see for this age group. The story is told from twelve year old Rayne’s first-person point of view, The author used asterisks to
show the missing words Rayne could not figure out through auditory closure, though as a hard of hearing person who uses closure I did not find this to be believable. The connecting words like "is" and "the" are quite easy to understand with closure if one has a good understanding of the English language (which Rayne did). When the doctor spoke to Rayne using many medical words she understood all of it but missed simple words in everyday conversation.. I understand the point of using the asterisks, but I found it quite annoying to read. This is an own voices book though so perhaps Cerra's experiences are more like Rayne's than mine. This story covers the controversial topic of whether parents should be allowed to force their child to get a cochlear implant before the child can consent (or in this case does not want to consent). The topic was handled well with different perspectives included and brings awareness to a topic that many people and especially middle graders would know little to nothing about.

A great read really opening up the topic of hearing loss. Emotionally charged allowing the reader to become immersed in the story. An informative yet entertaining book.

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This book has such an amazing story within. It is so inspiring and made me want to learn more about sudden hearing loss and how it can effect someones life. While Rayne is up against a massive invasive surgery that is certainly scary for a 12 year old, she is brave and awe-inspiring. I believe everyone should read this and do more research into the topic. The writing was phenomenal and I believe the author put her whole being into writing this out.

Rayne is a surfing, music loving middle schooler. But when she starts rapidly losing her hearing she feels like she is losing everything that makes her, well... her. When an ongoing fight with her parents regarding cochlear implants finally boils over she tries to find a way to finally be heard. This is an emotion filled narrative on dealing with hearing loss in a pivotal time of development and the shifting family and friend dynamics.

As a sign language interpreter, I will be buying a copy of this book for my resource shelf with the Deaf/hard of hearing students I work with. Written from a twelve year old's POV makes it relatable and easier to read for younger readers than books written from an adult's POV. I appreciated the use of *** to denote missing words which shows just how much conversation and school instruction students with hearing loss miss. There were points of this book where I wanted to cry, scream, and cheer. I wish every kid experiencing hearing loss would have friends like Rayne's! What a tremendous support that would be! This is a must read for D/deaf and hard of hearing students, especially those who experience hearing loss after age 8 and families of D/deaf and hard of hearing children and those who work with those populations.

The reason this book wasn't 5 stars for me was actually the part after the story was over with the prominent use of "hearing impaired" (especially from a deaf author) and the first resource listed for hearing loss being the A.G. Bell organization based on the ideas of a known advocate for eugenics.

Hear Me is about a 12 year old girl who is losing her hearing, and how far she will go to keep her autonomy. Rayne’s parents have decided that cochlear implants are in her best interest. One problem though- Rayne vehemently disagrees. She does not want implants, realizing that they may not be the “quick fix” her parents are seeking. Throughout the book, Rayne goes on a journey to convince her parents that she should not get cochlear implants.

I loved this book! I like how the plot focuses on this one pivotal moment in Rayne’s life. Rayne remarks on emotions and experiences that kids with and without disabilities relate to, such as not fitting in or feeling embarrassed by her hearing aids because they make her “different”. I’m glad I got to go on this journey of self-discovery with Rayne, from trying to ignore the fact that she has hearing loss to accepting it and learning how to live with it, Middle grade readers will love reading about her journey as it progresses throughout the book.

Rayne’s hearing is getting worse? Even with hearing aids, she can’t hear her teachers and so is failing her classes. She is also losing friends for the same reason. With her parents, she is fighting them when they tell her that they want her to have surgery involving cochlear implants — a sort of permanent hearing aids. After Rayne does her research, she discovers risks and challenges that could happen after surgery. With the surgery coming, Rayne decides to take a bus ride to contemplate what kind of life she would have . She finds out that she is not broken. She is a whole person. Her new friends help her knowing this regardless of her ears.

It’s a well written novel about a subject that is not talked about. Often a teenager can be teased about it. Hearing aids are a part of life for those losing their hearing ability. It ought to be understood that hearing aids help a lot but sometimes not always enough.

12-year-old Rayne has hearing loss. As it gets worse and worse, her parents are telling her that she will have cochlear implant surgery, despite Rayne being adamant that it is not for her and is desperate to find any alternative.

Rayne's friends were great. They loved her for who she was and didn't care at all about her hearing loss and made sure she knew.

I loved that this was inspired by the author's own journey with hearing loss and that they both ended up with a different solution.

While I understood that Rayne's parents cared for her, they (especially the mother) didn't seem to care at all about what Rayne actually wanted. It can be frustrating to read about somebody who means well, but is so misguided.

I look forward to anything else Kerry O'Malley Cerra writes in the future.

The moving tale of Rayne, a young girl who has hearing loss, is called Hear Me. Cochlear implants, in the opinion of her parents, provide her greatest chance of leading a "normal" life, but Rayne is apprehensive to undergo surgery. Cerra does a fantastic job of illustrating the challenges of dealing with hearing loss and choosing a course of action. Rayne is incredibly well portrayed, and she has a lot of depth and personality, which may be challenging to capture in younger characters.

It was a pleasure to read, and it would be an excellent choice for a classroom book or for young readers who are interested in learning more about hearing loss or who are coping with it.

Thank you @NetGalley and @kerryomalleycerra for the opportunity to read this e-ARC! The book will be published September 6, 2022!

“How do you learn to live in a world not actually built for you?”

Rayne is a relatable character, even if most people who read this story aren't experiencing hearing loss like she is. She's struggling to be understood by her parents and struggling to love herself for who she is. One of the most prominent parts of the novel are the "***" that replace words Rayne cannot piece together in her everyday conversations. This puts you right in her shoes. She can understand most of a sentence, but her hearing loss is getting progressively worse, and fast, so her parents are pushing her to get cochlear implants. Rayne is terrified of the side effects of this surgery, so she takes matters into her own hands.

The author's note at the end was a really lovely tribute to this story and I appreciated understanding more about how the author used the "***" in the story.

This book opened my eyes to the ways our world is not set up for someone who is deaf or experiencing hearing loss. Will definitely recommend it to my 6th graders!

Rayne is a typical 12 year old who loves her friends, surfing and her favorite pop singer's music except for one big difference-she is losing her hearing rapidly. Her parents are very concerned that her hearing loss will lead to Rayne getting left farther behind in her schoolwork. They also see her withdrawing from friends and surfing is much harder due to her inner-ear imbalance. These factors lead her parents to believe that a cochlear implant would be the best course of action to help Rayne. Rayne is vehemently against getting the procedure. Wondering if her parents can force her to get the surgery, Rayne sets out to get answers to all the questions she feels her parents haven't asked. I enjoyed this book and think that middle grade kids would love it. Rayne is extremely relatable and the novel gives a complete picture of what it would be like to lose your hearing and all the anxieties that would come with it. The author chose to "****" some words that Rayne can't hear which might make the book a little difficult for some kids to read but I think that this technique adds to the feelings and frustrations of what Rayne is going through. I will be recommending this book to the students in my library.

Rayne has been losing her hearing for a short while, and is struggling to keep her mother and father, both school teachers, from knowing how much worse it has gotten. It has even affected her ability to surf, which she very much enjoys, since ears affect balance. Rayne is in seventh grade, has her eye on the class presidency, and is trying to keep up in school although her hearing loss is making things difficult. Her mother wants her to have cochlear implants right away, but Rayne has done her research and knows that once she has these, the avenues to different ways of helping her hearing that may be developed in the future may be cut off. On top of that, she doesn't want people to know she has hearing problems, and the implants are very visible. Her best friend Jenika, brother Colby, and even long time friend and possible crush Theo are all very supportive, but they are no match for Rayne's insistent mother. After Rayne mishears a question at the student body president debate and answers oddly, and her parents schedule the cochclear implant procedure against her objections, Rayne knows she must do something. She's done her research, and thanks to the internet, is able to investigate options such as a boarding school a few hours away from her Florida home and clinical trials for which she hopes to qualify. She has a lot of trouble dealing with everything, so withdraws from her friends and occasionally skips school, which causes her parents to be more alarmed and move the implant surgery up. After she gets a disappointing response from her doctor and from a lawyer she contacts about medical emancipation, she decides to travel by bus to meet with a doctor who has denied her request to participate in a trial. When this also doesn't help, she ends up at the school for the deaf. Her brother, who is in college nearby, comes to see her, and her parents are called. Will Rayne be able to show them that the decisions about her health should be hers to make?
Strengths: Cerra, who wrote the fabulous Just a Drop of Water (2014) does a good job at presenting a realistic view of struggles with diminishing hearing while also having Rayne deal with the more ordinary problems of middle school. Especially effective is the way Rayne's hearing is represented-- words that she can't hear are displayed as ***, so the story really puts us inside her head. Her run for a top student government position, her friendship with Jenika, her budding relationship with Theo, and even her arguments with her parents all ground the story in occurrences to which all students can relate. She's a fantastic advocate for herself, but struggles with anxiety over appearances and what others will think of her almost as much as she struggles with not hearing. Her bus trip, while a bad idea to me as a grownup, is a bit of an empowering adventure. I especially enjoyed the fact that Jenika and Theo were able to tell Rayne that they didn't consider her hearing loss to be "weird" or "broken" as she did; it was just part of her. That's a great message for young readers to hear, and I'll definitely be purchasing this interesting and informative book as a way to give students an understanding into some of the challenges faced by people who are d/Deaf.
Weaknesses: I like the cover as a piece of art, it conveys the sense of separation Rayne feels from her family, gives a good clue to the setting, and even showcases Rayne's anxiety well. As a cover, however, I worry that it might not appeal to my readers. It's more of a 1980s style, and might require hand selling.
What I really think: I was enthralled with Beverly Butler's 1962 Light a Single Candle when I was in middle school. This was a fictionalized account of that author's vision loss at 14, and Cerra has a note detailing how she lost her hearing, starting at 16. There are very, very few books with d/Deaf characters or culture, so there is definitely a need for this well-done book, and having one written by someone with personal experience is great. Pair this with Uhlberg's The Sounds of Silence for a historical look at the treatment of deaf people in the mid 1900s, Kelly's Song for a Whale, or Miller's Miss Spitfire, since Helen Keller is mentioned several times, and students no longer know who she is.

I had the opportunity to read an eARC of this title, and this review is based on that version. It may not match the final version exactly.

Rayne is losing her hearing. Even with hearing aids, she is missing more and more, and it's harder to keep up with her friends and at school. Her parents think a coclear implant is the answer. Rayne isn't so sure.

I haven't had Rayne's experience of hearing loss, but like her, I have had times that it felt like others in my life were making decisions for me, without listening to what I wanted to say. I think that most people have, and that middle grade readers will see themselves in Rayne's experience. This is an excellent book which belongs in school and classroom libraries.